crème glacée [the fate of coincidences 1]

15: Glen

Glen settled into the passenger seat next to Jade, who started the car and pulled away from the curb. It was only eight in the evening, but he decided to go home early because making Jade drop him off at midnight, the time he usually got off work, would be rude. He could always do paperwork at home, anyway. It was weird getting off work so early, he thought and realized that he couldn't remember the last time he did that.

"How was your day?" Jade asked as they stopped at a red light.

Her constant cheerfulness was not something he was used to, so he was taken aback every time she smiled at him. It might have also been the fact that it looked like she had too many teeth and her eye twitched if she smiled a little too wide.

One Direction was playing through the aux cord, another thing Glen would instantly be uncomfortable with, but for some reason it felt right. Every time he saw Jade, he imagined one of their songs playing anyway.

He cleared his throat as Jade glanced at him expectantly. "It was okay, I guess. Like any other day."

She nodded, looking back at the road. "What do you usually do as the CEO?"

Glen shrugged. "Meetings, paperwork and stuff. A lot of paperwork."

"Isn't it boring?"

"Boring? Stressful, maybe, but it's definitely not boring."

"That's good!" She smiled too wide again. "It's important to enjoy your job, or life would be really depressing."

He wasn't going to argue with that. "Oh, how was the tour with Ella?"

Jade's face lit up. "It was really fun! You guys even have a mini makeup lab here. And Ella introduced me to a bunch of cool people. The marketing manager was really fun to talk to. Did you know he can do magic tricks? He turned a pen into a banana peel right in front of my eyes."

There was a trace of wonder in her voice and Glen stifled a laugh. "Yeah, Paul is really something. Everyone kind of hates him, but they can't help but admire him for how good he is at his job." He remembered how Paul turned a chair into a chicken at his job interview. It was really a wonder that they even decided to hire him. "And magic tricks."

"Really?" Jade looked affronted at the fact that anyone could hate a marketing director who scared the crap out of his coworkers by performing stupid magic tricks at the most inconvenient times. "Why would anyone hate him? He's very lovable."

Lovable was the last adjective Glen would use to describe Paul of all people. "You haven't spent much time with him so you wouldn't know."

"If you spend too much time with anyone, you get tired of them eventually." She said matter-of-factly.

Glen shrugged. He hadn't spent much time with anyone these days so he forgot what that felt like.

"Oh, but Ella was a little strange," Jade continued on, back on topic. "She's really nice and pretty and sweet but..." She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, mostly likely trying to figure out how to finish that sentence. "There's... something about her. She has this murderous aura even though she's not doing anything murderous." She shook her head. "That makes no sense, nevermind."

Glen laughed, amused by the facial expressions she was making. "I know what you mean. Ella is a scary person, and what makes her even scarier is the fact that she hides it so well."

Jade turned to him, smile frozen on her face, voice trailing off to a whisper. "What does that even mean? Is she like a... criminal or... something...?"

Glen donned the most deadpan expression he could muster. "Has she been to jail? No. Has she murdered anyone? I'm not too sure about that."

She let out a nervous laugh. "You're funny."

"I was friends with Ella since elementary school," Glen said after a stretch of a pause, not even sure why he was volunteering this information. "We've been best friends for almost twenty years. Same with Zack. I know them pretty well, so I know for sure Ella won't hurt you or anything, if that's what you're worried about."

"You work in the same company with your best friends?" The excited twinkle was back in her eyes. "That must be really fun."

He nodded, hiding another smile. "It could be, at times."

When they weren't being a complete pain in the ass, he didn't say outloud.

Jade was looking at him, as if expecting a continuation, and they ran straight through a red light. There was a loud beep from a car in the opposite lane.

"Jade!" Glen screamed, blood pressure skyrocketing.

Jade noticed halfway through the intersection and her eyes rounded. She let out a continued scream that didn't stop for two blocks.

Glen was holding on to his seat belt, holding his breath.

"I think you should just focus on driving for now," he said faintly.

"Sorry..." she said quietly, guilt written all over her face.

He waved it away and they continued in silence. His heart slowed down its frantic beating and he took a few breaths. Both of Jade's hands were on the wheel now, and she stared intently at the road in front of her. Since it was quiet, he could hear another One Direction song softly flowing out of the speakers. Just as Glen was coming to terms that the chorus was indeed catchy, Jade pulled up in front of his building.

"Good night!" he said as he got out of the car. "Drive safe please."

He said the last part with a very serious stare until Jade quickly nodded three times too many and Glen got the distinct impression of a puppy. "Good night!"

When he was walking up to the elevators in the lobby, Glen heard his name being called. He turned around and Jade was running through the lobby, hair wild and face flushed.

"You forgot this," she gasped, out of breath, and waved around a file labeled "Monthly Financial Report for the Month of August, 2013."

"Oh." Glen walked back to her to take it, cursing himself for the forgetfulness. "Thanks."

She beamed with entirely too much enthusiasm. "No problem! I'm picking you up tomorrow at the same time, right?"

He nodded, struck again by how happy she sounded. The smile spreading on his face was just an involuntary reflex. "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

She waved and ran back outside to her car. He watched her with the file still in his hand for another minute until he snapped out of it and pressed the button on the elevators.

Glen ended up humming "Story of My Life" as he ate his pasta that evening and kind of hating himself for it.